Review Of TicWatch E3 : The Design Is Average, The Health Tracking Is Good.

The TicWatch E3 is a smartwatch with a lot of features, a big screen, and fast performance, but you might not like its design or LCD screen. It focuses on overall health and well-being and has apps to measure stress, ambient sound, sleep, exercise, and more. The latest news says it will get Google’s next Wear OS update, which makes it a safe bet if you want a reliable and affordable smartwatch.

It’s up to you if you think the TicWatch E3 looks good or not. We liked the clean lines and simple design, but compared to other devices, we thought it was boring.

You can get around this with customizable watch faces, which you can get from the Google Play store by the thousands, and a quick-release silicone rubber strap that lets you switch it out for any other 22mm strap. We tried out the watch with a Panther Black strap, but blue and yellow straps are coming soon.

Even though it’s light, it seems strong. Importantly, though, this phone doesn’t have Gorilla Glass, which means that after a lot of use, the screen might get some scratches. It is waterproof up to IP68, so you can use it in the shower or in the pool.

1. Design

The screen on the TicWatch E3 is 1.3 inches and has 360 x 360 pixels. That’s a good size to make the most of its features, but it’s not perfect.

We didn’t like how big the bezel was, which is the space between the frame and the screen. It seemed like a waste of space. Also, it’s too bad that it’s LCD instead of OLED. That doesn’t mean OLED is always better (it’s more complicated than that), but it does make blacks look blacker and has better color contrast than an LCD, which is why most of the best smartwatches use OLED.

There is no automatic brightness sensor on board, which is annoying if you go from a dark room inside to a bright sunny run outside. But it only takes a few taps to turn the brightness all the way up, which wasn’t a problem when we were outside in the sun.

The case is 44mm in diameter and 12.6mm thick, so it might feel big at first, especially on wrists that aren’t very big. But we quickly got used to the chunky design, which is similar to what many smartwatches look like these days.

The frame of the watch is made of polycarbonate, and the inside is made of plastic. Compared to metal smartwatches, both of these materials feel a little cheap. It only weighs 32g, though, so if comfort is more important to you than style, you won’t have any trouble.

This one doesn’t have a crown that turns, but it does have two buttons on the side. The top one turns on the screen, opens the app menu, and takes you back to the homescreen. Long-pressing turns on Google Assistant, and double-pressing quickly turns up the brightness. The bottom brings up the TicExercise app, but you can set it to do something else if fitness isn’t your top priority.

It’s up to you if you think the TicWatch E3 looks good or not. We liked the clean lines and simple design, but compared to other devices, we thought it was boring.

You can get around this with customizable watch faces, which you can get from the Google Play store by the thousands, and a quick-release silicone rubber strap that lets you switch it out for any other 22mm strap. We tried out the watch with a Panther Black strap, but blue and yellow straps are coming soon.

Even though it’s light, it seems strong. Importantly, though, this phone doesn’t have Gorilla Glass, which means that after a lot of use, the screen might get some scratches. It is waterproof up to IP68, so you can use it in the shower or in the pool.

2. Use every day

The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip and 1GB of RAM are inside the TicWatch E3. This chip is only in one other smartwatch right now: the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3. This makes the E3 a cheaper alternative to the TicWatch Pro 3, which is more expensive. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip is in most of the rest. But the E3’s newer, better chip makes it easier to use and more powerful.

This means it’s very responsive and easy to swipe through menus. You also have Google Pay, Google Assistant, maps, and notifications, which are all things you’d expect from a Google Wear OS smartwatch. All of them work well, are easy to use, and load quickly.

The screen is the right size for seeing notifications, your calendar, and everything else. Even though it can look a bit big on your wrist, it’s perfect for reading text and actually using these features. Many wearables let you see notifications, but it’s hard to do anything with them. The E3, on the other hand, has a big screen. This, combined with the great performance of Wear OS, made swiping through menus and using the watch a real pleasure, even though the bezel was annoying.

The vibration didn’t work as well, especially when it came to alerts. It feels weak, which might be fine for some people, but we didn’t like it because we missed some notifications because of it.

3. Tracking your fitness

The TicWatch E2 runs on Google Wear OS, so you can use the Google Fit app on your phone and the Fit Goals, Fit Heart Rate, and Fit Workout apps on the watch itself. Mobvoi also has its own suite of health and fitness apps. To use any of them, you need to sign in to Mobvoi and agree to the collection of data.

Mobvoi’s fitness tracking app is called TicExercise. It has 20 workout modes, such as running, pool swimming, elliptical, walking, and yoga. It’s too bad there isn’t a choice related to weight, but the Freestyle option worked well for counting sets and putting in breaks.

Since GPS is built in, you don’t need to bring your phone with you when you run, ride a bike, or walk outside. The E3 can track your location for you. When we took it for a walk, it was locked to GPS within 30 seconds, and the location data it collected was correct.

Also, running, walking, and cycling can be detected automatically. When we put this to the test by running and walking quickly, it worked well.

There’s also an optical heart rate sensor on board, which is essential for fitness tracking. It tracks your heart rate continuously while you work out, but the TicPulse app can also be used to take constant readings in real time. There is also a useful heart rate alarm. You can set the limits in your settings, and if it goes too high or low, you’ll get a warning.

The TicOxygen app also has a blood oxygen sensor. You can set it to measure your SpO2 levels every hour, both day and night, by turning it on. This is important for people with heart disease, asthma, or other breathing problems because it lets them know when something is wrong. But we found that the E3 had trouble taking these readings, even when the watch was worn very tightly.

You can also turn on an alert system that tells you when your blood oxygen levels aren’t normal, just like you can with your heart rate. There’s no explanation of what that means, but we think that if it’s different from your average readings, an alarm will go off or the watch will shake.

All View

The TicWatch E3 is very quick to respond and has a big screen. That means it’s a good choice if you like to read messages, set alarms, use Google Pay, and do other things that smartwatches can do. The E3 isn’t the cheapest smartwatch on the market, but at £179.99/$199.99/AU$259.99, it’s a better choice than the Fitbit Sense, Fossil’s latest smartwatch, or the more expensive TicWatch Pro 3. It’s clear that this is a cheap watch, since the design and screen options aren’t the best. However, you still get a lot for your money, and it ranks high compared to other Wear OS devices.
The E3 is a smartwatch that is focused on health, fitness, and well-being, not just workouts and sports. It tracks your heart rate all day, measures your stress, has relaxation features, a blood oxygen sensor, and much more. If you’re worried that something might be wrong, alarms that go off when your heart rate or SpO2 level changes are also helpful.